her
old cousin Dorothea. She expects her bridegroom, the architect of the
town and son of the chief magistrate, Heribert Sunneborn, who has just
returned home from a long stay abroad. While the lovers greet each
other, Ethelerus, who has wooed Regina in vain, stands aside greatly
mortified.

The second act opens in an inn, where Hunold makes the people dance and
sing to his wonderful melodies. There he first sees the maid, who has
appeared to him in his dreams. She is Gertrud, a fishermaiden and: To
look is to love--they are attracted to each other as by a magic spell.
Wulf, the smith, who loves Gertrud, sees it with distrust, but Hunold
begins to sing his finest songs. In the evening the lovers meet before
Gertrud's hut, and full of anxious forebodings, she tries to turn him
from his designs and is only half-quieted, when he assures her that no
fiendish craft is at work and that he will do it for the last time.

In the third act Ethelerus holds council with magister Rhynperg as to
the means, by which they {270} can best succeed in teasing and
provoking the proud Sunneborn. Hunold enters, and agreeable to an
invitation of theirs, sits down to drink a bottle of wine. They make
him drink and sing a good deal, and he boasts of being able to make the
maidens all fall in love with him, if he chooses. Rhynperg suggests
that he must omit the Burgomaster's daughter Regina, and he succeeds in
making Hunold accept a wager, that he will obtain a kiss from her
before his departure.

The following night Hunold accomplishes the exorcism of the rats, which
may be seen running towards him from every part of the town and
precipitating themselves into the river. Unhappily, Wulf, standing in
a recess, has seen and heard all and coming forward to threaten Hunold,
the latter hurls his dagger after him, upon which Wulf takes flight.

In the fourth act the whole town is assembled to rejoice in its
deliverance from the awful plague, but when Hunold asks for his reward,
the Burgomaster tells him, that a so-called rat-king, a beast with five
heads, has been seen in his (the Burgomaster's) cellar, to which
complaint Hunold replies, that it is the smith's fault, who listened
against his express prohibition. He promises to destroy the rat-king
on the same day and once more claims his due, together with the
promised parting gift, which he begs to be, not a drink of wine, but a
kiss from Regina's lips. Of course everybody is astounded